A court has temporarily blocked the state from deciding in what order to place the 12 measures that will appear on the November ballot.

The unusual temporary restraining order granted Friday in Sacramento County Superior Court stems from something we told you about last week regarding the counting of signatures to qualify two ballot initiatives that would raise taxes, one backed by Gov. Jerry Brown and the other by wealthy civil rights attorney Molly Munger.

We found it interesting that election officials in Alameda County and other counties had finished counting the signatures on petitions for Brown's measure before Munger's, even though Munger had turned her petitions in first. Not only that, but Munger's initiative required fewer signatures to qualify than Brown's, which one would guess would mean that it would be easier to wrap up Munger's initiative before Brown's. Apparently, we weren't the only ones who found it curious, because Munger sued over the issue Thursday.

She also sued over a law passed by the Legislature and signed by the governor this week that would move his measure to the top of the ballot. Prior to that, propositions would appear on the ballot in the order they qualified, with sequential numbers assigned.

Her attorneys sought the restraining order to stop the secretary of state from assigning numbers on Monday. Judge Timothy Frawley was skeptical at first about the nature of the request, though he called the circumstances "interesting." But he granted it, along with a request by Munger to try to get to the bottom of what happened by taking depositions from elections officials in Alameda and Los Angeles counties.

A hearing on the legal issues is set for July 9, which is now the earliest that the initiatives will get their official numbers. Another oddity is that the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association might join Munger in the suit. Not that they support her tax - they hate it - but they oppose the Legislature's move to put the governor's measure atop the ballot.

Getting to know you (or not): So just who is Munger and what drives her? The Sacramento Press Club wanted to find out, and invited her to be the featured speaker for its monthly luncheon in July. Munger agreed, the notice went out to members and the response was unusually strong.

But this week, her team informed the club that Munger was backing out.

Joe Arellano, a spokesman for Munger's campaign effort, sent an e-mail to the club saying, "Now that our initiative has qualified, Molly is going to be winding down her public appearances. Rather than focus on a perceived political rivalry, as we get closer to the election, Molly wants to shift the focus to where it should be - to the initiative itself and to the good things it will do for California's schools."

It's too bad for many reasons, not the least of which is that by her absence, Munger - who is positioning herself as a champion of education - has put a dent in the money raised through the luncheons. Where does that money go? To scholarships for journalism students.

Yakety yak: A budget vote like the one that took place this week in the Legislature inspires lawmakers to say all sorts of things in the heat of the big debate. This week, we heard welfare described as a form of slavery and Ronald Reagan's name was mentioned repeatedly. In both chambers. By both sides of the aisle.